New Year's Resolutions

For the first tiime in two years, I find myself having to make a New Year's Resolution. Now, I'm not one to put much stock in New Year's Resolutions. If you're going to promise to do something, why not just do it now instead of waiting until an arbitrary date called "January 1st?" But with two big races on the calendar next weekend and a race of revenge coming up on May 3rd, I realize that I am not up to the challenge.

Not to belabor a point, but having an injury really sucks the juices out of you. I have felt like an inadequate lump since July and I'm tired of it. I've gained 10 pounds and my running is labored. I haven't been in this kind of shape since 2006 and I don't like it.

I ran 7 miles today and my left toe still hurts. It must be some kind of phantom pain, because it's been six months for crying out loud! My right toe that was actually broken broken in September is totally healed! I refuse to be hobbled by pain in my toe. I PRd in two marathons with this stress fracture and I will continue to train through the pain.

First things first though, I RESOLVE TO WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING I EAT IN A FOOD JOURNAL AND GET MY METABOLISM BACK ON TRACK. Hopefully, I'll lose 10 pounds and my running paces will come down.

I still have a Flying Pig to revenge. After all, who's the Big Bad Wolf?

Retrospective

My goal for 2007 was to improve. Improve overall fitness and become a better, faster runner. Since 2006 was a year of personal worsts for me, both fitness and running-wise, I knew I had nowhere to go but up. But how far I could go was the real mystery. Since the time I started "running" in 2003, and then running my first long distance races beginning in 2005, I always ran and trained conservatively and fearfully. When I raced, even in a 5k, I was afraid of going too fast. When I ran half and then full marathons I was afraid of injury and bonking. By the time I ran the Flying Pig in May 2006 and The Disneyland Half in September 2006 I was overweight (by my standards) and pulled off my slowest finish times in those two distances. I was going backward and I wanted to go forward.

2007 (or rather Fall 2006) came with a new attitude. I was going to go for it. I was going to conquer my imagined fears and see what I was really capable of accomplishing. When I turned 44 in February, I vowed to PR in every distance I raced this year. As it turned out, not only did I PR, but I PRd my PRs!

My races and times:

More Half Marathon: 2:10
The Cleveland Marathon: 4:39:10Redlegs Run For Home 5k: 26:19
Racing to Read 5k: 25:59
Hyde Park Blast 4 Miles: 35:42
Conquer the Hill 10k: 56:56
State-to-State Half Marathon: 2:03:10
ING New York City Marathon: 4:31:10
Thanksgiving Day Race 10k: 54:25

In the course of the year, I lost 15 pounds and have managed my weight and eating in a healthy way. My body fat is less than 16% which is excellent.

I've run a total of 1480.65 miles this year, averaging 123 miles per month and about 30 miles a week.

Next year, my goal is to run a 4:15 marathon and to break 2:00 in the Half. Most likely, my spring marathon will be the Kentucky Derby Marathon on April 26th and the Columbus Marathon in the fall. I tend not to make specific race plans in between but race when and where I can.

Here's to setting goals and achieving them!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Random thoughts

I'm taking a break from running today. I'm feeling tired and can't seem to shake it. I went ahead to the gym and did a high rep/low weight workout. Core, pushups, jumprope, chest press, chinups, leg presses, stepups, rows, stretching on the foam roller. It went fast... I didn't realize until now just how much I fit into the hour.

I'm looking for my tape measure. I haven't taken any measurements since the spring and I'd really like to. I think a child may have "borrowed" it -- for what purpose I can't imagine -- so I may need to break down and spend the sevent-nine cents for a new one. I've been noticing real definition in my legs and would like some concrete confirmation. Just for fun.

My NYCM jacket came today that I ordered from the New York City Road Runners. I'm not sure that I like it. It's very, very lightweight (it is called "Ultralite" LOL), but I would have liked to try it on in a medium. The ingNYCM logo is on the back and my hair covers it up. The problem is, it's thirty days out from the marathon and the merchandise is selling out. I think that's absolutely ridiculous. They obviously didn't buy enough. Anyway, I didn't want to risk getting to the expo and finding all the good stuff in my size sold out.

Get'cha Head in the Game

I know I'm not supposed to focus too much on the number on the scale, but I was happy to wake up this morning to see 123 on the bathroom scale. The additional mileage is finally catching up to my calorie intake which means I must be in the middle of the training program. Cool! It works! I'd like to be at 120 for NYCM, but if I'm not, then I'm not. I've made so many monumental gains this year that I can't expect to keep improving at the same rate. Now I really have to fight for the extra seconds.


Today was 4 miles recovery -- my least favorite run of the week. 45:25 nice and slow. One whole episode of Fresh Air. I was looking forward to the Judas Priest and Metallica interviews and they did not disappoint. Well, Rob Halford was a little boring, but James Hetfield was fascinating as always. I highly recommend the movie Some Kind of Monster. Even if your not a Metallica fan, it's a totally cool inside look into the band's creative process with the additional fun of a therapist hanging around the scene.


Yes, I went to the gym too. Nothing easy there. I warmed up on the bike and did some stretches for my hips and glutes to start.


Reverse lunge on bosu 4x30 SS Military press on bosu (10lb db) 4x20

Pikes (on ball) 3x10 SS Push up row (10lb db) 3x10, 10

Military pull-up 4x10 SS Push ups on inverted bosu 4x15

Stretch

This is entirely random, but hey, my blog. So, now that Zac Efron is on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, I had to (finally) sit down and watch High School Musical. I've tried before, just like Harry Potter, without success. It's weird, because I have always liked musicals. But High School Musical, I don't know how else to put it, seems so much more contrived than other musicals. And it's so chaste! Even Oklahoma! has a dark side. I do confess that I've become quite fond of Ashley Tisdale. She's actually funny. She's on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and I also confess to a sick fascination with that show too. It's completely inappropriate for the Disney Channel. Zack and Cody are complete horndogs. Hey! Maybe High School Musical should take a few lessons because I think what's missing from East High is HORMONES. Harry Potter had now become an obsession with me and I'm plowing through the series. I'm sorry to say that I'm not so anxious to catch up with High School Musical 2.

MTD: 142:88 (second highest month of 2007)

How I Lost the Weight

First, today's workout. 1.5 mile warmup on the treadmill.

Strength:
Bosu squats (10 lb db) 4 x 15 SS Stairs 4 sets

Plies (lateral squats) on Bosu 4x 20 SS Jumpsquats 4 x 20

Uni deadlift/rev lunge (8 bl db) 4 x 10 SS Pushups (bosu) 4x15

Rebounder (7lb ball) 2x15 SS Victories 2x10

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I have lost 15 pounds since November. I'm in the best shape of my life and alot of people have asked how I did it. It's really no big secret. I can tell you the one thing I didn't do and that is "DIET." No "Zone." No "South Beach." No "Atkins." No Grapefruit Diet, Slimfast, NutriSystem, or WeightWatchers. Nope. Sorry to all of those in the diet industry, but your diets are not how I lost the weight.

The first thing I did was purchase this book. ------------->>>

Sports Nutrition Guidebook by Nancy Clark, MS, RD. Reading the book, I was able to determine the healthy dietary requirements for my own body. Based on the fact that I was an endurance runner, I was able to guage my body's preferred ratio of Fats, Carbs, and Protein. (25%, 55%, and 20%) and yes, I am aware that it doesn't equal 100%, but I rarely meet my exact percentages anyway. These are just the goal guidelines. After reading the book, I discovered that I performed best when I ate at least 5 or 6 "meals" a day. I use the term "meal" loosely because it includes snacks as well. One of the first things I learned from the book, is that I could exercise till the cows come home but still not lose any weight. Which, of course, is why I was able to run thirty miles a week and GAIN weight.

I was running to eat.

I needed to change my philosophy.

I needed to eat to run.

Once I had the Guidebook, I purchased a program called FitDay. You can use the free online version, but for $29.95, I liked the extra motivation of having invested a little money. Using Fitday, I set up my own personal food journal. A typical day might look something like this:

At the end of a day, I could anaylize how I fared with the fat, carbs, protein ratio:

Fitday also has functions for tracking your weight loss, calorie restriction, activities, metabolism, and other fun stuff including the ability to easily add custom foods to the program.

So, really, for the cost of a book on sports nutrition and a $30 food log, I lost the weight by paying attention to what I eat. Nothing faddish here. Just good, solid, basic nutrition. An extra bonus is that my family is also aware of the things they eat too.

Of course, I have to give credit to my incredible personal trainer, Aaron, who is always on my case about my nutrition. Do I eat enough protein? Do I get enough fat? How much carbohydrates am I getting in my diet? And, it was Aaron's idea for me to log my food intake.

I just took it to the level of ANAL.